Q4 Paper Outlook — On-the-Cheap Sheets

While noting that global economic activity remains muted, Stora Enso's CEO, Jukka Härmälä, sees some positive indications in the North American market. "There are signs that advertising spending is beginning to recover from the impact of the Iraq War," he contends.

The data in the most recent Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) monthly report tends to back his belief, but it still shows marked disparity between magazine ad revenues and pages. Through July 2003, advertising revenue was up 9.6 percent compared to the same period in 2002, but ad pages were only up 1.6 percent.